I am fundraising to help the victims of the farmer suicides in Vidarbha region of Maharashtra

To create a fund to help the victims of the farmer suicides that are on the rise in the Vidarbha region of Maharashtra

VIDARBHA JAN ANDOLAN SAMITI (VJAS) is an organization founded by Kishore Tiwariji (http://www.theweekendleader.com/Crusade/447/vidarbha%E2%80%99s-hope.html).

The VJAS has been monitoring suicides by farmers and providing rehabilitation support to their families. They have taken up issues with the administration, judiciary, legislature, human rights bodies and international forums. In a region comprising more than 70 percent backward population, VJAS has been taking up issues like malnutrition among tribals, their right to food and education, and drinking water supply.

Listen to Kishore Tiwari talk about the farmer suicide situation. Below is the official data from the ncrb (National Crime Records Bureau)

Over 16 families affected in the Vidarbha drought have been rehabilitated, thanks to your contribution.

Farmer rehabilitation is an on-going effort and cannot yield long-term results in a few months. Hence, volunteers for this campaign are continuously involved in creating awareness amongst farmers in Vidarbha about sustainability and long-term financial planning. They’ve been working on pushing more and more affected families back into civilisation, the past year.

The sugar factories in Marathwada are consuming precious groundwater required for essential crops. Volunteers, in tandem with local panchayats, have been in talks to introduce farming policies that protect water consumption for majority crop production, rather than give preference to profit crops like sugarcane.

They have also been working on making other sources of groundwater available for farmers.